Chapter Text
It was not a good morning--a surprising feeling coming from a girl who never ceased to make the best out of any situation, to see the silver lining in everything. Riley Matthews never saw a morning as a bad thing. In fact, she always saw morning as a new beginning, a way to start the day fresh without worrying about the happenings of the day before. But lately, her morning were filled with the strangest feeling of glumness and a strange dread that she couldn't quite but a finger on. It bothered her so much that she could always feel that feeling in the pit of her stomach, as if something terrible was about to happen and she didn't know what it was or how she was going to stop it.
A sigh escaped Riley's beautiful lips, a quick smile covering her face as she apply the last touches of make up. Her reflection smiled back at her, and she knew that no one outside her room would realize that she was, indeed, in a terrible mood. Why did anyone need to know, anyway? Why ruin her family's good morning because she was feeling....well, she honestly couldn't even name the feeling. Maybe you're getting your period. It was possibly. Mood swings were a thing, after all. Whatever this feeling was, it was relatively new, and for the past few weeks, she'd done an excellent job of ignoring it. So, as she smoothed down her hair and her outfit, she smiled a little more and let a spark show in her eyes, and pushed the strange feeling aside. Today, of all days, she really didn't need it.
"There you are, honey! Eat quickly--you're running late for school!" Topanga, Riley's mother, frantically exclaimed as Riley walked into the kitchen. Riley glanced at the microwave clock, her eyes widening quickly at the time. She had to be out of her house in ten minutes--how had she let the time pass her? Her first day of senior year, and she was going to be late. That wasn't acceptable.
"Oh, no, I will not be late my first day of school!" She looked at the table full of food her mother had place for both she and Auggie, and frowned. Now she felt bad. "I'm so sorry, Mom, but I don't have time to eat all this food you made me." She grabbed a blueberry pancake off the small stack and an and apple and headed for the door. "I'll be up on time tomorrow, I swear! Bye, Mom!"
"But Ri--"
The door closed behind Riley as she quickly made her way to Topanga's Cafe.
Beep!
[text: Maya]: Where are you??
[text: Maya]: You're actually running late aren't you?
Riley put her phone back into her pocket as she pushed open the door of Topanga's spotted Maya, and quickly pulled her best friend to her feet as she rushed them out the door--without one word.
"Whoa there, sunshine. You're the late one, not me, remember? Relax, we'll make it to school on time."
"It's not about making it on time, Maya. I don't want to be rushing into class on the first day of senior year! I wanna be there early enough to relax and not run into class." She gave Maya a pointed look over her shoulder as the two walked towards the subway.
"So basically not do what I usually do?" Maya shook her head but smiled as she kept pace with Riley's long strides. "I don't see what the big deal is with this year. Yeah, it's the last year of high school before we go our separate ways--"
"That's it, Maya. It's our last year together and I want every second to count. I'm not wasting any of it."
"Wait." Maya suddenly stopped in her tracks, causing a bunch of nasty looks to be shot their way by the morning rush of people. "Just because it's our last year doesn't change anything. You get that, right? We're not gonna stop talking to each other because high school is over."
Riley looked at Maya, processing her words. Maybe that was it, the thing that had been bothering her the second half of the summer to this morning: they were all going to have to go different places when the school year was over. Riley was excited about facing the world and growing up, but what if she had to do it alone? What if there was no more Maya by her side? Or any of her other friends? They all had different futures, and it was hard to think about. So instead, Riley smiled big at Maya, shaking the thought out of her head. "Of course I know that, silly. Now come on, I'm no stopping 'til we get to school now."
John Quincy Adams High School was not as crowded as Riley had expected it to be. There were a few students here and there, but most of them were athletes or walking out of the few club meetings that were taking place on the first day of school. When she expressed her concern to Maya, her friend simply rolled her eyes at her.
"Riles, it's twenty minutes before the first bell. Of course the place is basically empty." Maya took her phone out of her back pocket and after a moment of reading something on it, she sighed. "But lucky for you, our boys are here. Come one, they're in the Courtyard."
The Courtyard was the high school's main hang out area when the weather was decent. It was very large, big enough to fit a minimum of three hundred students, and was scattered with benches and tables, with bushes and trees surrounding the entire area. It was quite beautiful, and a nice place to have lunch of hang out between classes. But this early before school started, it was basically empty save two boys sitting on a table in a far corner.
"Late--what were you doing, Maya?" Zay Babineaux said from where he sat on top of the table as the two girls approached them.
"Why do you assume it was me that made us late?" Zay simply gave Maya a pointed look, a smirk on his face as if it say 'please, darling'. "I was on time! It was Riley that was running late. Geez, such little confidence, you little shit. Scooch." She pushed him a little to make room for herself on the table.
"Riley was the one running late? That's new," Farkle said. He was sitting on on the bench of the table, a book open beside him. "What happened?"
"Nothing. People run late from time to time. I just..slept in." She didn't want to say that she sat on her bay window for a good thirty minutes thinking about her 'terrible feeling' instead of getting readying. "Does it matter now, though? I'm here now." She smiled big, taking a seat on the ground in front of the table, her legs laid out in front of her and her hands behind her. "Where's Lucas?"
"Baseball practice. Varsity started practice a few weeks ago," Zay replied simply.
"Aren't you on the team?" Maya asked as she took an apple out of her bag.
"I am. But this was some optional practice--mostly doing lifts and running and stuff. Coach isn't even going to be there. Lucas put it together for the team if they wanted to do it. I, of course, decided I'd much rather take the morning off. I'm not the captain of the team."
"Surprise, surprise," Maya mumbled--which earned her a nudge to the side from Zay.
"What're you reading, Farkle?" Riley asked, changing the subject. "You can't possibly be doing homework."
"No, I already read a ahead in some of classes, so no need for that." Maya rolled her eyes, but Farkle only ignored it, something he had mastered when they were much younger. "It's how-to for college apps and figuring out what you want to do and where you want to go."
Riley's stomach dropped. College. It was something she was trying very hard to avoid, but it was an inevitable point of topic. Being in their senior year now, she knew it was something everyone was going to want to talk about: getting out of high school, being on their own, chasing dreams, parties, new experiences--it was so much that she wasn't sure she was ready for. It also didn't help that she had no idea where she wanted to go or what she wanted to do with her life.
She realized she had been quiet for a little too long but before Riley could reply, Zay cut in. Thank God. "Farkle, man, why do you, of all people, need to read that? You already know where you want to go and you're a genius so you're going to get in. You should be the most relaxed kid in the whole damn class right now."
"You can never be too sure." But then Farkle smiled. "But I know I'll get into Harvard."
"How about we ditch the college talk and focus on anything else less boring." Maya gave Farkle and Zay a pointed look, and Riley couldn't be more grateful. She hadn't relayed her concerns to Maya but that was mostly because, despite not having actually discussed it, she knew Maya was worried about how she was going to be paying for school. They'd have to talk about eventually, though, and Riley wasn't sure how much she was looking forward to that. What if she and Maya didn't go to college together? What if they went in completely different places and never talked to each other again?
The first bell suddenly rang and Riley shook the thoughts out of her head. Maya was right: nothing was going to change. She wasn't going to let anything change. But a part of her couldn't help wondering that maybe, just maybe, the two girls might be wrong this time around.
"Let's get to class."